Prop Closettag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-16047362015-04-13T20:58:25-04:00Stylist Robin Zachary and her adventures in New York City.TypePadStyling Class in New York Citytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e201b7c75547ef970b2015-04-13T20:58:25-04:002015-04-13T20:56:48-04:00If you've wished you could be someone who dreams up ideas for photo shoots, shops for beautiful things all day, plays with fabrics and color swatches, picks out tableware, props and clothing and gets invited to product launches and gets paid for it…then commercial photo styling may just be the career you've been looking for. This class will make you feel like a stylist and learn to start acting like one.Robin

If you've wished you could be a person who dreams up ideas for photo shoots, shops for beautiful things all day, plays with fabrics and color swatches, picks out tableware, props and clothing and gets invited to product launches and gets paid for it…then commercial photo styling may just be the career you've been looking for. This class will make you feel like a stylist and learn to start acting like one. Now taking registration for my Prop & Styling Workshop which begins May 30th. This will be an introduction. Over 4 Saturday sessions, we'll cover composition and color palettes, art direction, mood boards, sourcing props, styling kits, planning the shoot and then shooting. I'll share my trade secrets and resources gathered from 20 years in the business. You'll love the small group setting at a beautiful daylight studio in Chelsea. Click for registration or email me right away for more information. A big thank you to Janelle Gonyea of Refind Joy for the beautiful logo design.

So You Want to be a Stylist?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e201bb07ff955c970d2015-03-07T11:54:37-05:002015-03-07T12:49:37-05:00I hear from so many people who ask me "How did you become a stylist?" "What was your career path like?", so I know it's on a lot of minds. The desire to live and breathe creativity, to shop constantly and live in bright airy photo studios or go on location to gorgeous places sounds like an incredible way to earn a living! First off I don't want to scare you, but it a LOT of work! If you follow many talented stylists and photographers on Instagram, all you see is the carefully curated results of many hours of hard work and the daily photos that you see in a feed were probably not shot every day as it appears. So what I'm trying to say, is it's a lot harder than it looks!Robin

I hear from so many people who ask me "How did you become a stylist?" "What was your career path like?", so I know it's on a lot of minds. The desire to live and breathe creativity, to shop constantly and live in bright airy photo studios or go on location to gorgeous places sounds like an incredible way to earn a living! First off I don't want to scare you, but it a LOT of work! If you follow many talented stylists and photographers on Instagram, all you see is the carefully curated results of many hours of hard work and the daily photos that you see in a feed were probably not shot every day as it appears. So what I'm trying to say, is it's a lot harder than it looks!

My path began after college where I studied Fine Art, Art History, and worked at the college newspaper. I followed the path of a graphic designer after which I accidentally fell into magazines. Working at a magazine gave me the opportunity to learn how to create shots for editorial content. It was a small magazine which doesn't even exist now, but it was up to me to find the props, book the photographer and style the set to convey the point that we were making in the story.

Many years and many magazines later I landed at Bridal Guide Magazine as the Creative Director. My days were filled with pretty gowns, gorgeous flowers, jewelry, tableware and the shoots were my responsibility to plan. We travelled all over the country and the Caribbean to photograph the fashion and beauty stories, but the still life, i.e., the product, wedding details, cake, flowers and tabletop shoots were all done in studios in NYC. While there were editors responsible for pulling in a lot of these items, I worked with the photographer to set up and take the perfect shot.

I am grateful that Bridal Guide was a small company because I had the ability to do so much. I used to take the bouquets home from the shoots, cut them apart and see how they were put together. I needed to come up with backdrops and surfaces for every shoot so I found the best prop houses to rent from and stores to buy fabrics, papers and other materials. Sometimes I worked with a great up-and-coming wedding planner (there are so many, now famous, to name) to visualize a theme wedding even before it was trendy to have a theme wedding. I painted and taped and rigged and schlepped things to shoots. Each and every interaction was a learning experience that added to my toolkit of styling skills. When I was ready to leave my full-time job, I knew what I needed to do to reinvent myself as a freelance stylist.

Fast forward to how this relates to you. If you read accounts from various stylists like Chelsea Fuss or Emily Henderson you will see that there really is no one path. We all do it differently. You have to envision your dream and do what it takes to make it a reality. I'm still working as a stylist, but the most rewarding experiences I have had thus far have included teaching and coaching aspiring stylists. I've logged over 7 years at FIT and now my new styling class is launching in April. If you want to chat or know that this is what you want to do, please get in touch. I would love to meet you and help you kickstart your new career.

Martha Stewart Party Ticket Winner + More ways to win tixtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e2017c363a8b97970b2013-01-24T18:21:15-05:002013-01-24T18:21:15-05:00Our winner has been selected, reader Jaime who wrote in her entry, "I Love everything Martha Stewart! Our August wedding color palette is still undecided, but I am leaning towards colorful florals (think garden party)! I have not hired a...Robin

Our winner has been selected, reader Jaime who wrote in her entry,

"I Love everything Martha Stewart! Our August wedding color palette is still undecided, but I am leaning towards colorful florals (think garden party)! I have not hired a wedding planner, as I have many many ideas and will do my best to make them all come to life. I would love a chance to go to Martha's wedding party for some vendor ideas and inspiration!

Way to go Jaime! I am so grateful to all of you that entered my first giveaway on Propcloset. I really loved hearing your color ideas. And I see that this is a real DIY bunch, and being fans of Martha's that makes total sense. If you want more chances to win tickets, go over to visit Holli and Robert at Wedding Podcast Network or Jackie at Merci New York and enter to win their pair of tickets. Hope to see you on Sunday!

I'm so excited to be able to offer YOU a chance to win a pair of tickets, valued at $75, to the greatest wedding event in town, Martha Stewart's Wedding Party on Sunday, January 27th at Gotham Hall in New York City.

It's a day-long showcase of flowers, cakes, jewelry, accessories, favors, invitations, wedding planners and more to get your ideas flowing! An expert panel, led by none other than Darcy Miller, Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings will include: Abby Larson, Style Me Pretty, Peter Som, Designer, BHLDN, Cake Diva Sylvia Weinstock, Claudia Hanlin from The Wedding Library and many more and will feature gowns from Kleinfeld Bridal. Here's a video from last year's event. I'm pretty sure there will be a gift bag for you too!

I'm so excited to be going to this event and hope you and a guest will join me! (You don't really have to go with me, but it would be nice to meet you!) Here's what to do: Leave a comment with answers to the following questions:

1) What is your wedding color or color palette?

2) Are you going to hire a wedding stylist or planner or one of each?

3) If you are not a bride-to-be, just say hi and tell me why you want to go.

Important!!! Be sure to include your email address so I can get in touch with you. Entries will close at midnight on Wednesday, January 23rd and one winner will be selected in a random drawing and be notified on Thursday, January 24th. If you retweet this, I'll put your name in twice!

Good Luck!!

Bridal Market, Here I Come!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e2015391f2f97b970b2011-10-03T09:24:00-04:002011-10-04T13:04:57-04:00Fall Bridal Market mania is in full swing! Been going through loads of invitations and working on my excel spreadsheet, the only way to keep track of so many appointments over so many days. October Bridal Market has been a...Robin

Fall Bridal Market mania is in full swing! Been going through loads of invitations and working on my excel spreadsheet, the only way to keep track of so many appointments over so many days. October Bridal Market has been a routine for the past 10 years. It's that time of year when the most talented and fashionable bridal design luminaries put on their runway shows to an adoring cast of bridal editors and bloggers. As Creative Director of Bridal Guide I hardly ever attended the whole week—I just dropped in to see a handful of my favorite designers. But in the past few years I've covered the entire market for Newsday and now this is my second season representing the gorgeous magazine The Bride and Bloom. I'm excited to see what's new and how many trends will carry over from last season. I'm in love with the bridal fashion scene! From Pier 94 to The Essex House to Kleinfeld Bridal to EZ Studios to Cedar Lake we'll be criss-crossing town, up and down and back again. There's a lot to get in order. Comfortable, yet stylish shoes—check. Dresses dry cleaned—check. Notebook, camera, business cards, a small collapsible umbrella...I'll have the survival kit ready. Can't wait to catch up and connect with friends both old and new, especially Holli Ehrlich of Wedding Podcast Network, Susan Schneider aka The Wedding Writer, and Diane Forden of Bridal Guide. See ya at the shows! Bouquet photo above is from the Oscar de la Renta April 2011 runway show. Photo by Robin Zachary.

Jacob Announces for the Metstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e2014e8a5c8c26970d2011-08-05T06:14:21-04:002011-08-13T10:09:50-04:00This was our proudest moment. Jacob won the SNY Kidcaster Contest and called a Jose Reyes home run from the booth receiving local and national media attention. Here he is with the announcing team of Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and...Robin

This was our proudest moment. Jacob won the SNY Kidcaster Contest and called a Jose Reyes home run from the booth receiving local and national media attention. Here he is with the announcing team of Ron Darling, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. It doesn't get any better than this!

Upcoming Event with Ceci New Yorktag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83533430c69e2014e8a288e5a970d2011-07-27T08:47:26-04:002011-07-27T08:47:26-04:00I've been a busy bee prop shopping for on a very special event for next week at the studio of the lovely Ceci Johnson of Ceci New York. Can't wait to share the details but it has to do with...Robin

I've been a busy bee prop shopping for on a very special event for next week at the studio of the lovely Ceci Johnson of Ceci New York. Can't wait to share the details but it has to do with the table setting seen in this post here and collaborations with some very talented floral designers. Stay tuned!